We’ve all read about those Europeans who came to the colonial Americas to live. But what of those who came to die? Among the more religiously minded colonists, especially those who belonged to the Society of Jesus, the notion of being a martyr, of joining the hallowed ranks of the early converts slaughtered in Roman coliseums, was an appealing one. Or, at least, so they claimed. 

Two ideas, the Beaver Wars and the Mourning Wars, have defined the way we think of the Franco-Iroquoian conflicts of the sixteenth-century. Which is better?

A look into the history of the Atlantic World, and the way historians use the Atlantic World paradigm to reinvent the way we think about the past.

Bartolomé de las Casas is one of the most fascinating people in history. He started his life in the Americas as a slaveholder, before having a religious experience and becoming one of the biggest proponents of Native American rights in the wake of European colonization.

After sailing the east coast of South America for years, Amerigo Vespucci and his name became attached to the continent he explored.